[ Reynir draws in a long breath, nodding. So that's what he means, by surveillance magic. It's not entirely what he'd been imagining, but in a way, it's much better and more interesting. ]

Ah, I see! I actually have met a mage who could do one of those things. Väinö Väänänen. He's this super old sentinel mage, and he guards... well, never mind, it's complicated, but pretty much he just watches everything in this one area through the eyes of his army of creepy seagulls.

[ Reynir widens his eyes, nodding slightly. Really just take a moment to let that sink in, Thancred. Imagine an entire army of magical seagulls. It's pretty horrifying, even if he is someone working to help the inhabitants of Saimaa. ]

Did you have a certain kind of animal you could use as a familiar, or is it more like... just one particular one that you worked with?

[ And of course, traveling and getting to know people, surveying on his own in a purely non-magical way, are just as fascinating to Reynir. He can't help a little bit of wistful envy coming into his voice as he says: ]

That sounds wonderful.

[ That is, until Thancred mentions a war, and while Reynir hasn't lived through any of those, he knows that is bad bad news. He's too interested to pause and consider that maybe he shouldn't ask what he asks next: ]

So, did the war come?